Industrial Engineer · phase 13 of 16 · noun
Output Contactor
Contactor between drive and motor that must be applied and sequenced only as permitted by the drive manufacturer.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- An output contactor is a contactor between the drive and the motor. It exists for isolation, for switching a drive between several motors, or for a bypass scheme, and it has to be used the way the drive manufacturer permits.
- Example
- A contactor opens the motor leads while the drive is running at full speed. The inverter sees an open circuit and then a reconnected spinning motor, and it trips or, on a bad day, fails.
- Why it matters
- Opening or closing a contactor on a live drive output can destroy IGBTs, so the drive must be stopped or told to expect it first. Interlock the contactor with the drive's run state and never let it operate on its own.
- Hook
- A switch on the output, sequenced or it costs you an inverter.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
During commissioning, the technician verifies the Output Contactor auxiliary feedback before issuing the drive run command.
Why these words
- output English out plus put identifies the delivered or downstream side
- contactor English contact plus the instrument suffix -or names the switching-device class
Where it came from
- Origin
- English technical compound from output and contactor, ultimately linking contact to Latin contactus, touched
- Entered the language
- 20th century
- What changed
- Output developed from something produced to an electrical delivery point, while contactor specialized contact as a device name.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- output is written as a closed compound
- Pattern
- contactor preserves contact before the suffix -or
- Pattern
- the two nouns remain separate in the phrase
- Breaks the pattern
- contactor ends in -or rather than the more common English agent ending -er
Spelled like
- input
- throughput
- actuator
- selector
Broken into chunks
-
out
- outlet
- outbound
-
put
- input
- throughput
-
contact
- contactless
- contact block
-
-or
- actuator
- selector
What it sits beside
Same subject
- auxiliary contact
- drive enable
- output reactor
- motor overload relay
Same shape
- line contactor
- bypass contactor
- motor contactor
Drive output equipment
- output reactor
- sine-wave filter
- dv/dt filter
Contactor parts
- coil
- main contacts
- auxiliary contact
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 13: VFD Power Quality, Wiring, and Motor Protection
Harmonics, reflected waves, shielded cable and bearing currents: the side effects a drive inflicts on everything around it.
